PNG is an extraordinary place. My father spent a year in the highlands in 1960, in a missionary outpost in a part of the highlands tha only had contact with the outside world about 5 years earlier. He fell in love with the place and the people; I then visited the same a village a couple of years ago, and had what will probably be the trip of a lifetime, with incredible friendly, welcoming and warm people.<p>The cities however are very edgy, dangerous and of no charm whatsoever.<p>This article of course is talking about a very ugly and horrific side of the culture, albeit one that flares up once in a while rather than being ever present.<p>As it discusses, in the highlands the people didn't even know the rest of the world existed until the 20th century. They hardly ever went to the next village. It was extraordinarily isolated. It's also an incredible story, I strongly recommend the (out of print) book First Contact that describes how both the explorers and locals reacted to this incredible moment - all expertly documented, and recent enough that the authors could interview people who remembered it first hand.<p>The true highlands are not the towns this article discusses. Mount Hagan is a large bustling town with a main airport. It no doubt has much more occurrences of this ugliness, with communities thrown together more and the chaos of large town living.<p>The villages in the highlands, where I visited, don't have this kind of vibe, though I'm sure sometimes events like this could occur. They have a sense of community that we in the west have lost. For instance, all the children play together in one big bundling group of fun. The 8 year olds, 5 year olds and 3 year olds (with 1 year olds on their hip) all being kids, without parents (let alone a helicopter one) - though any adult might interact if required. When this type of community setting goes wrong you get the 'immune system' response this article describes, but this doesn't paint any of the daily positives when things are normal.<p>Like the author I'm optimistic that education will make the bad parts a think of the past. But don't think PNG is a country of savages - the highlands that I and my father knew, whilst transitioning in an exceptionally unique way are full of humanity as wonderful as anywhere in this world.